TORONTO — It felt like the gateway to WWE. Oh my god, that's Yariel's music!
Yariel Rodriguez emerged from the Blue Jays' dugout and leapt across the turf in four gallops, then spewed water into the air and raced toward the mound. If this had been the main event, Rodriguez would have stood frozen on the mound as the camera zoomed in and the roar of the roaring crowd was clearly in his eyes. His eyes say it all.
Rodriguez's major league debut had a feel, energy and intensity that vibrated from the glacial blues. This is the first time the Cuban right-hander has started in a game for this organization, but he shined as a pitcher as he held the Rockies to one run in 3 2/3 innings, with six strikeouts and a 5-3 victory. I showed you. It is possible to change the shape of this cane.
“I've been waiting for this moment all my life,” Rodriguez said through a club interpreter. “A lot of sacrifices and a lot of effort. It was very, very emotional.”
The spice was on from the first pitch. Rodriguez mixed hesitation into his pitches, played with varying angles of his arm, and did his best to keep batters off balance. That might have allowed him to get away with a few sliders over the center of the plate, but when Rodriguez found that pitch, it looked downright dominant.
One of his best players ended the first inning with a barrage of hits to Ryan McMahon. As he swung on top of it, Rodriguez reappeared and jumped off the mound in the same direction he came from, pumping his chest and pumping his fists. Rodriguez wasn't just looking in the mirror either.
When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. caught a harmless pop fly to end the second frame, Rodriguez was a few feet away, celebrating as did his teammates.
“I really couldn't have asked for anything more,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He was electric. His slider was great because he whiffed and whiffed a lot. His heater was great. He kept his composure. That was beautiful. [darn] It was a good major league debut. ”
There are a thousand ways to build a baseball team. The next great Blue Jays team doesn't have to match the personality of the 2015-16 club, which could win bar brawls as much as ball games, but that's what made the country fall in love with them. That's the reason. They were a team that the rest of the league hated, and here they are, in the most flattering way possible.
Rodriguez's matches have a lot of energy and are very absorbing to watch. He prefers whiskey to chamomile tea. Everything has an edge.
“He's not scared,” Schneider said before the game. “Whenever he gets here, given what he's been through, it's not too scary. That's good. He does a lot of things really well. He controls the running game, he defends his position, he's everything you want in a pitcher. He has a good presence. I like that.”
When Rodriguez came out of the Blue Jays' clubhouse after the game, music still rattling on the wall behind him, all of that emotion came through in excitement. Not only did Rodriguez reach the stage he had spent his life pursuing, he was also particular about his landing. He nailed the first impression.
Emotions aside, Rodriguez was reinvigorated when asked what he liked about his pitching.
“Everything. Everything,” Rodriguez said. “My first game, I went into it intending to do my best from the first inning. The adrenaline was very high, but it was everything. Everything. It was very emotional.”
There will come a day when it will not be so celebratory. Rodriguez will settle into his groove and live out a role that could take on several different forms as the years go on, and there will certainly be ups and downs in the big leagues.
Saturday's performance doesn't change anything about what the Blue Jays think Rodriguez could be — they believed they were good enough to sign him — but it does make everything more realistic. has been added. The moment was important for the 26-year-old, who followed Rodriguez's path and did not pitch professionally until 2023.
Now all he has to do is perform the show over and over again. Thankfully for Rodriguez, they tend to bring back crowd favorites.
